What Will Happen with Our Facebook Accounts When We Die?

That’s about Facebook alone. Take notice of that. What about those subscribers and members of the other hundreds of websites available in the Internet or the world wide web? Based on an article, there are over 30 million dead person’s profile on Facebook at present.

An online writer who goes by the name realityspeaks: asks these questions:

What happens to an individual’s account on a social networking site (not just facebook) when he/she dies? Is a dead person’s profile removed from Facebook? Can a dead person’s account be accessed on Facebook?

Find out some of the answers in www.jedbrubaker.com/

In a research, Jed Brubaker can give us insights about these questions. He is a PHD candidate in Informatics Department at University of California-Irvine specializing in human centered computing, social media (that includes online networking) and digital identiy.

Accordingly, Facebook’s current policy is that memorializing a deceased’s user account ensures only confirmed friends and family to view the profile. “But in actuality although profile of the deceased is locked, memorialized accounts lie forever on Facebook….” Provided, however, if family members request that such existing account be removed.

Realityspeaks can hardly “fathom the number of dead people’s accounts on Facebook in the future.” No mention about other sites. Isn’t interesting to know also any prediction on yahoo and google members who will be dead in the next 100 years and their accounts will still be there?

Brubaker says that death  ”plays an increasingly significant role, then, in the experience of social networking.” So if you want to know more about his perspectives on this, visit his site.

Here are some initial reactions:

“…it doesn’t seem right somehow to not be ale to remove deceased persons,” by Sandie Jalilu.

“…I think it’s rather exploitive because they know these people are not active. But their people can also send in a request for removal. Wonder how well that works,” by Genevee Swanagan.

“Facebook might, unfortunately, be the way you find out a friend has died,” by Christopher Thomas Goodman.

“I just wonder if Facebook will be around in 100 years,” by Allison Jae.

“I don’t like the idea, when anyone dies the account should be discontinued,” by Ruby Hawk.

What’s yours?

Mine? Talking about death is not always morbid. Right?

I maintain a total of 22 site memberships including facebook, yahoo, google, blogging sites, job sites, travel, lifestyle, youtube… etc. I can’t even memorize all the passwords. I just take the risk by listing all the accounts and passwords and put it in my wallet. No one knows about all of them.

Now, I will reveal it to my only child. Who knows?

Having said that, I can only hope that I would still be around in the next 100 years because I can predict that Facebook would still be alive. I hope you’ve got me on that.